The five-acre Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden, located at the Department of Natural Resources building at 540 Taylor Avenue in Annapolis, was named for a former Maryland First Lady whose husband was Governor from 1959-1967. Prior to construction of the office building in the early 1970’s, the garden site was a flat cinder lot, used for parking and traveling carnivals. Beginning in 1975, the garden developers dug ponds, built a stream, and formed a “mountain” of large native boulders to change the topography to represent the state’s various geographic areas: a Western Maryland forest, a streamside environment, and an Eastern Shore peninsula.
Today, the Tawes Garden is an urban oasis, offering meandering paths through its gardens, woodlands and waterways. The three geographic areas feature distinctly different plants and trees, many native to Maryland, which change with the seasons. It is a quiet and beautiful place, open to the public all year round.
The goal of the Master Gardener project at Tawes is to promote sustainable and environmentally healthy gardening practices while educating the public about the advantages of planting native Maryland and pollinator-friendly plants. One of our key areas of interest is the identification and removal of invasive species. During the fall of 2021, Master Gardeners received a Unity Garden grant to revitalize the Plant Mural, one of the most beautiful features of the Tawes Garden.
Our group meets from April through November, on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday mornings and the 2nd an 4th Thursday mornings of the month. Hours are flexible and we work under the direction of the Tawes Horticulturist. Activities are season-specific, including pruning, planting beds and containers, mulching, raking, removing invasives and, of course, weeding. We also have occasional field trips and brown bag lecture/lunches. Tawes Garden is centrally located and we welcome all new and current Master Gardeners for a day or a season.